Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to a method, apparatus and computer program product for providing a mobile streaming adaptor. As such, some embodiments may provide a service-oriented device capable of cooperating with a mobile communication device (e.g., a mobile telephone) to provide relatively high-quality media processing services to support real-time media streaming.
The continued growth in communications technologies and the emergence of the Internet as means for accessing data has accelerated the demand for publishing or sharing information over communication networks. The information, which may include audio, video, audio/video, or other content, may be transmitted over the communication networks and may be transmitted from or received by mobile devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, digital video cameras, digital players, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile terminals. These mobile devices may perform various functions and may be able to communicate via wireless connections with other devices. For example, a single mobile device may provide Internet access, maintain a personal calendar, provide mobile telephony, and take digital photographs.
The editing and sharing of media content captured by a mobile device may be time-consuming and limited. As used herein, “media content” may refer to one or more content items, files, or bitstreams, including audio, video, text, graphics, or other media or any combination thereof. In the past, media content production and distribution had been somewhat monopolized by professional companies because capture, editing, post-production, and distribution were typically relatively expensive tasks that required specialized equipment. However, as the cost of media capture or playback devices such as digital video cameras has decreased, the popularity and accessibility of networks has increased, and more bandwidth has been made available to average users, streaming media content has become a widespread video distribution solution. Streaming media content solutions have evolved from applications and services that can now be offered to average users. In this regard, for example, current solutions have evolved from off-line methods, which include transforming pre-stored media content, into streaming data for real time distribution of live events.
A typical legacy distribution solution requires a personal computer (PC) or server and several peripherals to execute corresponding related tasks (e.g., media capture, compression, streaming packets encapsulation, streaming packets transmission and control). To make such systems simpler, some legacy systems have attempted to integrate all system components into one box, such as ViewCast's GoStream series. Such systems are often composed of some stand-alone devices that, when combined with other stand-alone devices, include functions for media capture, streaming encapsulation, a web server, and other functionality that may be desired all in one box.
With the recent rise in popularity of mobile networks and camera phones with relatively robust capabilities, streaming applications are no longer limited to use by professionals. However, there may still be a need for a relatively simple and ubiquitous streaming distribution service. One such service offered previously by the inventors of the present invention has been referred to as “Pocket Channel” and was described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/944,218, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. However, concerns that remain with many existing mobile network and/or camera phone based solutions relate to limitations in quality of optical components, quality of image sensor components, microphone or other audio components, battery life, computing power and the like. Even though better embedded processors and hardware encoders may partially alleviate these concerns in the future, audio/video encoding capability and some camera issues may remain difficult obstacles to overcome. Accordingly, it may be desirable to provide an improved mechanism for providing streaming video services.